Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29676 on 18 September 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29676 on 18 September 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29676 on 18 September 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29676 on 18 September 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Patients referred for urgent care, including cancer treatment, continue to be prioritised across NHS Scotland.

We are committed to providing Health Boards with the necessary support to drive improvements in waiting times, and will continue to target resources to this effect, including maximising regional and national capacity. Our continued partnership with NHS Scotland’s Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) plays a central role in this.

CfSD’s National Elective Coordination Unit (NECU) supports NHS Health Boards through a number of key work streams. Through a collaborative and centrally coordinated approach, this has helped to ensure the best use of capacity across National Treatment Centres and territorial Health Boards by matching available capacity to demand within NHS Scotland for a number of specialities, including urology. This has been supported by the additional £30 million investment this year. We will continue to work with NECU to explore whether there is further opportunity to expand this work with a focus on urgent urology patients within NHS Lothian.

The Scottish Government’s budget for 2024-25 has maintained levels of funding for the cost of legal aid (£141.3 million for the legal aid fund). The budget is demand led and all of those who meet the eligibility criteria will have access to legal aid, regardless of those who live in rural and remote geographical areas.

In addition to the provision of judicare, the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) supports the Civil Legal Assistance Office (CLAO) from its core funding from the Scottish Government and provides a network of publicly funded solicitors by SLAB, operating from offices across Scotland.

The CLAO offers assistance with civil legal problems, targeted at specific geographical areas and specific types of work, in line with priorities agreed by government. It offers a triage service whereby people contacting the service are assessed and offered one or a combination of services, depending on their eligibility for legal aid, needs and the capacity of the service. These include referral to another organisation and signposting and works closely with other advice providers to triage cases also offering, second tier advice and training. CLAO works with local advice services, advocacy services and support groups such as local women’s aid groups.

In addition, access to free legal services is provided to the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre of around £690,000 from 2023-2026 to tackling all forms of violence against women and girls, including domestic abuse, and ensuring that victims receive the support they need. Anyone over 16 in Scotland can access this service.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29676 on 18 September 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC) drove efforts to create a Collaborative Framework Charter to increase collaboration within the offshore wind industry. The primary output of that work is the Strategic Investment Model (SIM).

A strong pipeline of port infrastructure and supply chain projects has emerged through the industry-led SIM process. 38 project proposals were developed through the SIM, with a combined total capital expenditure of around £6.5 billion.

The industry-led SIM process has identified ten priority projects so far; five are port facilities, four are supply chain proposals and one is an equipment project. Further progress has been made with nineteen “progress” projects being identified through the SIM.

This approach will help deliver supply chain and port investment critical to the expansion of Scotland’s offshore wind capacity, while supporting the deployment of ScotWind.

Scotland’s Action Plan for Rare Diseases (2022) and Progress Report (August 2024) note awareness raising among healthcare professionals as the most important of our priorities, including making educational and training materials available for rare conditions. Work is underway with NHS Education for Scotland to develop the first of these, for all rare conditions, which will be video based. We will continue to explore opportunities to develop or signpost further learning resources.

Discussions around the development of care pathways for rare conditions have taken place at Scotland’s Rare Disease Implementation Board (RDIB) and with our counterparts in the UK government and other devolved nations. We will continue doing so to explore how care could be improved in this way.